Tuesday, 28 September 2010

Woah. Anybody see the final of the Biggest Loser series 8 on Sky One last night? I settled down for the double episode and was just astounded at the amount of weight all the contestants had lost and how good they all looked. I especially thought Rebecca looked amazing and was so inspired by her as she is my age and I really identified with her.

The marathon that the four contestants had to run in the final week really struck a chord with me. I remember seeing them do it in the last series and it had a huge impact too. Now, I am not a runner, never have been. But seeing them, all shapes and sizes and ages, pushing through to complete the 26.2 miles really got me thinking. If they can do it, I can do it. It's all mind over matter (oh, and a hell of a lot of training!) I've always said I want to run a marathon before i'm 30 and that is exactly what I intend to do! I'm going to re-start running at the gym and build from there, small baby steps but I have plenty of time to work my way up.

I felt really good after watching BL and it stayed with me all of today. I even went to my Zumba class even though I had a few excuses lined up in my subconscious as why I couldn't go. I went and I am now buzzing! This also got me thinking back to my WI dissapointment on Sunday. I figured that if exercise makes me feel this good, then I need to try to not get hung up about results. I need to drum it into my head that I do it because it makes me feel good, rather than I exercise because it works off X ammount of cals which means I should lose weight.

Oh, and apparently there is a Zumba fitness game being released on the Wii (in November in the US, so hopefully not long after over here). That will definitley be on my Christmas list!

Sunday, 26 September 2010

After my initial predictions I weighed myself this morning to find I had, for the the second week running, stayed the same. Now I am sensible enough to realise that the human body is not a robot and therefore doing X + X will not always = Y within a seven day period. BUT, something is obviously not right over two weeks with no loss.

I studied my online tracker for last week and I had saved over 17 points and worked up a further 17.5 activity points. So that is 34.5 points that I didn't use. I tracked like a demon, as always. I sweated my arse down the gym on Sunday, went for a long walk, Zumba three times in the week and my daily 3/4-2 mile walks at lunchtime. Seriously, what is going on?

I know the answer is to just carry on with what i'm doing this week, I don't really have an alternative, but i'm sick of not seeing the pay off that I think I really deserve. Even when i do lose weight it is SO slow that my goal weight way way waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay away.

To top eveything off the WW message boards aren't working for me so can't even have a rant on there (have had to e-mail customer services to get them to look into the error). So I logged on here to let off some steam. To be honest i'm actually more calm now than yesterday when I knew I just I haven't lost any weight.

Ughhhhhhhhhhh! Hate being this negative but it is just one of those days, or weeks rather!

For my scales sake I best lose some weight next Sunday or else they will be launched through my bathroom window!

Thursday, 23 September 2010

I know I shouldn't do it, but I have. Nearly every day. Naughty. I cannot help myself!
So far I have been really good, and always when I've been staying well within my allowance and exercising regularly I feel I want to keep track of the good it is doing me, by having a peep on the scales before my WI is due (on Sunday).

Well i'll never learn because what i've seen so far is depressing and has got me into a spin this evening convincing myself that i'm not going to lose anything this week, despite my efforts, and that the 15st mark will still be there. Which has in turn got me annoyed that I could be potentially plateauing, ridiculous at my weight.

Anyways, official weigh in is three days off so going to try and put numbers out of my head and stay positive.

On a comical note, I went to Zumba tonight (3rd class this week, GET. IN!) and three new guys had joined. To say they were un-cooridinated was the understatement of the year! They really had me giggling as they looked like how little boys do when they try to dance - all arms and legs everywhere. Bless 'em!

Tuesday, 21 September 2010

I've haven't posted for ages due to my laptop power plug giving up the ghost and having to wait for the delivery of my new plug. Thankfully it as there waiting for me when I got home today - such a relief! My whole life seems to be orchestrated through my laptop!

I've got loads to update, which to save time i'll list in bullet points:

What's happened so far:

WI on Sunday - STS (GRRR!) The 14s alluded me this week but it WILL NOT happen next week.

All my exercise plans went up the spout as my dad was in hospital (he is out now thankfully).

I have signed up to the WW forum Seasons Challenge for Autumn - a great idea by one of the members, and it has been running for quite a while. A good motivator.

Exercise completed so far this week:

Sunday Morning: 7 mile power walk (in the peeind down rain!)

Sunday Afternoon: Gym 1 hour

Monday Evening: Zumba 45mins

Planned exercise for the rest of the week:

Tonight - Zumba 1 hr

Wednesday - shred or pilates dvd

Thursday - Zumba 45 mins

Friday - Gym or shred/pilates dvd

I'm feel like my exercise clothes are a little plain and dowdy so I am going to go now and look for some new bright stuff :)

Wednesday, 15 September 2010

After my week of being a saint I weighed on on Sunday and lost 1lb, bringing me to dead on 15st. My initial feelings were that of annoyance that I have still yet to break into the 14s, especially as I had a really good week. Then I started to see the bigger picture - another week's weight loss - thumbs up!

I am aiming to break into the 14s this week - just one measley pound would do the trick! So far I spent nearly 2 hours down thw gym on Sunday, went for a hilly walk around Wales on Monday, attempted a walk yesterday but was thwarted by the pissing down rain and gale force winds! Then last night I went to Zumba. I had intended on going to the gym this morning but due to the horrible weather and a few other things I had to/wanted to stay in the house.

Will try to do my pilates dvd tonight, then tomorrow is Zumba at the gym, and Friday I want to go to the gym before work...I reaaaaaaaaaaally want to see the back of these bloody 15s!

Friday, 10 September 2010

First of all I have to say I am loving my Friday night in! Have had quite a few mad weekends recently and this is the first Friday I have spent tucked up at home.

I thought I'd do a quick post about some comments I got from work this week. On Wednesday I was just washing my hands in the toilets when one of the ladies from work gave me a sideways glance, caught my eye then asserted that "you're losing weight aren't you?" To which I replied yes. "I can really tell in your face" she said. I thanked her as it was a really nice comment.

The next day I had three different people come up to me to give me really nice comments about my appearance. All of them noting how they could "tell by your face". LOL! I started to think that I must have a big moon face when I few stones heavier. I also think it may be due to me wearing my hair up on these particular days!

After studying my double chin in the mirror I can conclude that it is definitely not as podgy as it used to be. Score! High fives all round!

To be extra sure I asked my dad to study my graduation photo (from 2005) and see if he noticed a difference from then and now. Now I have to preface my Dad's response by saying he is always out for a laugh and making jokes, so he was only trying to make me be less serious about my face when he said "yeah, your face was a bit *puffs cheeks out* back then" Ha! Good job we have the same sense of humour :)

Thursday, 9 September 2010

Monday I completed level one of Shred (sweat much?!), Tuesday I started a new Zumba class (where only me and my friend turned up! Dedicated much?!), yesterday I admit I didn't do anything after work (ooh, thou aren't being saintly much?! ...eh?) and tonight I am currently in my gym gear waiting to go to the gym for my usual Zumba class tonight (Zumba fangirl much?!)

Still tracking every day as per usual. On that point, has anyone else seen all the talk about the new WW plan that is going to be introduced? Apparently it's this new Pro Points thing where the way points are calculated is going to change, to include carbohydrates as well as calories and saturated fat. Fruit and veg will all be free now. The new plan hasn't officially been launched but I checked out a link on the forums to a Dutch WW version which explained it - have a look (will need to translate page). What does everyone else think? Personally I think it's going to be initially hard to get used to but counting the amount of carbs can only be a good thing as I don't think WW takes that into consideration enough, the same with sugars and salt...

Monday, 6 September 2010

So last week was kind of mixed. I got back into tracking, got back down the gym, went to my Zumba class and did my pilates dvd (the good stuff), but then I didn't do any form of exercise Friday to Sunday and I went over my point allowance both days over the weekend, especially on Sunday due to a Nando's lunch with a friend (the not-so-good stuff).

This week I want to be really good (saintly is a bit extreme!). So after having an inital false start as I didn't go to the gym before work as planned (due to me being really unhappy that the weekend was over) I got down to it tonight and put in my Shred dvd. Only the second time of doing it but I really do like it. It's 20 mins of pure GO!GO!GO! but 20 mins is not that long and you can really feel that you've worked hard (I can definitely feel it in my arms as I type this...)

For the rest of the week I want to go to a new Zumba class tomorrow night, as well as my usual Thursday night class. Do Shred at least one more time, do a couple of sessions of my pilates dvd and do at least one gym session before work this week.

In terms of food just track, track, track...

Right, going to go. In the middle of watching The Biggest Loser on Sky One - love it! So good for motivation.

Wednesday, 1 September 2010

Hmm, I feel I am a tad too old to be using High School Musical references in my blog title...ah whatevs!

Well the festival and bank hol are well and truly over, in more ways than one. I have tried as hard as I can this week to knuckle down and get back to tracking everything (seriously, 2 days away from doing it seems like an eon!) and I finally got back into doin some exercise (walks at lunchtime - which I was still doing anyway - and I did my pilates dvd last night and...wait for it...went to the gym before work this morning! Wohoo.

I'm not able to go all guns blazing yet as I have, rather annoyingly, a piffling cold that seems to have swept the office (and the nation! Saw Stephen Fry moan about having one on Twitter yesterday...) So hopefully by next week normal order will have resumed.

I forgot to mention that over the weekend I wore my trusty LBD (which was £10 from Tesco, ssssshhhhh!) and what once fit me snugly is now a tad too loose (there was serious boobage in the photo's!) I was a bit sad as it was my go-to dress but i'm so pleased to have a validation of all my hard work so far - it means so much more than a number on a scale, and it means I simply HAVE to buy a new dress! Happy days :)